International Review for the Sociology of Sport

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rowe, D.
Right arrow Articles by McGuirk, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 34, No. 2, 125-141 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/101269099034002003
© 1999 International Sociology of Sport Association and SAGE Publications

DRUNK FOR THREE WEEKS

Sporting Success and City Image

David Rowe

The University of Newcastle, Australia

Pauline McGuirk

The University of Newcastle, Australia

This article analyses the role of sport in the projection of city image (especially in non-metropolitan areas) and its significance as an urban and regional marker of civic progress and triumph over adversity. It presents a case study of the extraordinary community and media response to the 1997 grand final victory of the Newcastle Knights in the Australian Rugby League's inaugural Optus Cup competition. In discussing the case-study material and current debates on commerce, culture and place-marketing, the article canvasses the importance of sport in generating significant economic activity and urban redevelopment; reflecting and projecting, especially in deindustrializing cities, the growth of the service sector of the economy; promoting the image or `brand identity' of the city by identifying the success and interests of the team with that of the city; and functioning as a locus of community affect and identity which reproduces the concept of spatially constructed unity. The article cautions against an undue reliance on sports teams as indices of civic health, and on the use of sport to obscure cultural differences, structural social inequalities and the deep impact of deindustrialization.

Key Words: cities • image • mass media • place-marketing • sport • urban development


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of Sport and Social IssuesHome page
M. L. Silk
A Tale of Two Cities: The Social Production of Sterile Sporting Space
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, November 1, 2004; 28(4): 349 - 378.
[Abstract] [PDF]